


Bringing One Home

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Gen, Maris Brood mentioned, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8839801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: To Asajj, it's a job and it's revenge, meaning it's perfect. For the target, it is salvation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> AU to both Rebels and Dark Disciple. Uses Force Unleashed canon for Shaak Ti. Thanks to B_Radley for the prompt help.

The woman still moved with the grace of silk through air, a ripple of motions sliding through resistance as if she were ethereal.

Or maybe, Luminara supposed, she truly needed water and food.

"Not remotely on my list of possible saviors, Ventress, but I am grateful," Luminara said in a voice gone hoarse under torture.

"Hmm, consider it one part payback, one part revenge, and one part handsome paycheck," Ventress said, before dismantling the binders and Force-suppressing collar. She then handed over a lightsaber… not one of the Dathomiri's, nor her own, but Luminara felt stronger just to feel the crystal sing in her palm. It coaxed at her with familiar resonance, but Luminara was smart enough to resist falling into puzzling it out.

No doubt, the crafter of the blade was long since dead.

"You have an escape plan?"

Asajj smiled wickedly. "Of course, darling. I always do."

+++

The escape plan involved explosions, running, and a death-defying leap into the open hatch of a scout ship that headed for the upper atmosphere long before they had that hatch sealed. Luminara collapsed on the decking as Asajj dealt with that, her head swimming from drawing on the Force alone to shove her body through the motions, trying not to be dead-weight for her unlikely rescuer.

Asajj left her there long enough to check in with the pilot. "Are we clear to jump? They're going to be on our tail."

"They already are, and yes, and leave the piloting to me, would ya?"

Luminara was fairly certain she had to be hallucinating, as she tried to gather her senses fully back to herself. That sounded very much like a young woman that she had allowed to be harmed before the galaxy exploded completely. Her eyes closed, aching all over again for the lost young one that had been her ward, her responsibility.

"Then pilot and make certain we get paid on time!" Asajj growled, snapping the comm off before the pilot could answer. Luminara pushed herself weakly up to her hands and knees… and a surprisingly gentle Force reach had her assisted all the way up to her feet, without her weight on them at all. "I can't stand to see a woman reduced like that," the Dathomiri told her. "But, as you are lacking your customary rags to preserve your modesty, I will refrain from touching you."

"I have no modesty left, Ventress, and I do appreciate any help you render," Luminara told her. She let Asajj be her guide… not that she had much choice as the Force supported her from the Dathomiri's control. "May I inquire the difference between payback and revenge?"

Asajj chuckled at that, as she took the Jedi toward the small berth that served as medical on this ship. "Payback, to have your rescue be at my hands, for the absolute mess you made of several of my missions. Revenge… against the Empire and its puppet masters, by taking their prize."

"Ahh. Now I understand better. Thank you, for the enlightenment."

"Still such a Jedi," Asajj growled. "Don't throw away this rescue! My partner would be very hurt if you keep playing the game by the rules that killed your Order!"

Luminara's breath caught, hearing raw passion and actual loyalty in those words. Had Tano not only allied with but managed to tame the Darkness in Asajj Ventress? She forced herself to focus better, even as she found herself flipped horizontal and laid on the berth.

"That was Tano."

"Only reason you're not still in that hole; she bought my cooperation in this little venture. I don't want to know who her other friends are, but they have the credits I need."

Luminara folded that piece of information where she did not think she would forget it, then looked as Asajj was readying a syringe. She breathed in, then out, and closed her eyes.

"When I wake, Ventress, I would be relieved to have your take on events to help me remedy my errors in training."

"That might be amusing enough to stay with the annoying brat," Asajj told her, and even as tone-deaf to emotions as Luminara could be, she was certain she heard affection in the words, despite their meaning.

+++

The first thing Luminara was aware of was the rasp of her own skin, a reaction to the drugs used, no doubt. All of her skin felt like one of her more formal robes with the velvet nap rubbed in the wrong direction. The second was that she had been cleaned up and dressed, head to toe, in a more utilitarian version of her concealing garb, with a headdress lying just in reach for when she rose. She closed her eyes as the feeling of being covered helped soothe some of her more shattered points of reserve. 

She did not feel near as weak as when she laid down, indicating she had also been treated for the dehydration and near-starvation she had endured. She rose and reached up to twist her hair back, then put the headdress on and rose, sliding her feet into the waiting slippers. She felt, for the first time in an immeasurable period, vaguely like a sentient being.

She knew that had to be a euphoric in her system, and shock would eventually catch up, but she wished to thank her benefactresses properly. She steeled herself for seeing Tano, for the memories it would bring, and made her way to the very strong Force presence, believing it to be Asajj, and the lesser one, Tano.

As she entered the ship's small galley, where both were, she realized her error, even as she nearly did not recognize the woman before her. This woman was tall, possibly taller than Shaak Ti, with montrals not yet curving but decidedly more pronounced than Luminara recalled. The central lek was nearly of a length with the front pair, and they were dipping near to the woman's waist. The Force blazed from the Togruta like a bonfire, soaking into Luminara with healing heat.

"It seems I have lost far more time than I had begun to guess," she said softly.

Ahsoka turned, and while the markings were clearly those Luminara recalled, they had altered as the plumpness of youth gave way to a thinner profile.

"Luminara," the woman greeted, and then she crossed from where she had been sitting with Asajj to where her hands were reaching out for the older woman's. Luminara gave hers over, and felt the restrained power of a true master of the Force brushing against her awareness.

"How touching," Asajj sneered, and Ahsoka freed one hand to make a profane hand gesture. That, more than anything, made Luminara accept that this woman was most certainly the child-warrior she remembered, and she smiled.

"Come, sit." Ahsoka guided her over, giving up her chair to perch on the edge of the table instead. "And yes, you have lost years. At first, we did not know you survived. Then, after another team was lured to a prison on the false rumor of your survival, I did a little probing and discovered your true location. Only, I didn't want to expose that team to such risk again, so I found my own ally."

"Is that what you are calling me these days, my pet?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes upward, then sighed. "Asajj, did you stay just to needle me?"

"Among other things you're useful for," the Dathomiri said, smirking. "Besides, you mentioned possibly going to train for a while."

"Train? There are others that survived?" Luminara asked, hope blossoming.

Ahsoka cut Asajj a look, then nodded to Luminara's question. "We are very hidden; there are Dark Force users who hunt us. But I do need to go spend some time training, and I believe letting Ti take over your care might be for the better."

Luminara could not breathe as Ahsoka named the one woman Luminara most wished to see, the one least expected to have survived.

"It should be interesting to see what she's made of my kinswoman," Asajj said, clearly intending to go with them, and this time Ahsoka made neither a rude gesture or a comment. Whatever sat between the former adversaries was complex, but Luminara would explore it later, after she could think past the idea Shaak Ti still lived.

"I thought you said Maris couldn't possibly be of your clan?" Ahsoka asked instead. Asajj shrugged. 

"If you can claim every Force-sensitive savage we come across, I can certainly claim a fellow Dathomiri survivor."

+++

Shaak Ti was well-aware that the ship landing held more than just her usual visitor. She touched Maris on the shoulder, a quiet word for her to go back to their home, as the Force was ringing with potential from this encounter. She watched as the first person off was the deadly and wicked Asajj Ventress, dressed in a long skirt and short top, her arms protected to mid-bicep by fingered sleeves. Behind her, though, looking like a phantom from a different life, was the new (and oh-so-missed) presence that had caught her attention.

Wearing a very simplistic version of her concealing clothing, Luminara Unduli was walking down the ramp, her features anything but serene in the way her eyes darted for both threats and… for her? Shaak's breathing increased despite her own years of mastering herself, even in the challenge of the Empire's stranglehold on the galaxy.

The Togruta didn't even see her hunt-daughter emerge, so fixated on the Mirialan, nor did she note the eye-roll from the Dathomiri bounty hunter. She took a step, then another, and that drew Luminara's eyes directly to her in the tree line. Something akin to hope and relief, but more than either, exploded in Shaak Ti, and she quickly crossed the distance, only hesitating as she was mere centimeters from the other Jedi.

She was suddenly cognizant of her preferred mode of dress, the fact she had given back over to the free movement of a hip-wrap and binding top, of how unlike the Master she had been she must seem to this newly recovered woman that had once been her dearest friend in the Temple, outside of Plo Koon. 

"Shaak…" Luminara said, and her voice wrapped like the softest velvet of the Mirialan's former clothing on Shaak's soul, leading to her being as expressive as her hunt-daughter, disregarding personal boundaries to drag the younger woman in against her.

When Luminara's arms closed around her, Shaak felt peace for the first time in well over a decade, and just held on. The Empire was still out there, making allies of former enemies and exposing former friends as treacherous murderers… but she had her dear, dear friend again, and that could succor her for years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea if this might see a continuation at some point. I'm trying to contain the new AUs, so I can try and finish outstanding projects by year's end.


End file.
